Exceptional services for families at Domes of Elounda

When exiting the village of Elounda, we then access the hotel by driving alongside the sea to the village of Plaka. The hotel is located by the end of the small road on which we were and offers a wonderful view on the surroundings: in the back, majestic and arid mountains facing the sea dotted with a few islands. The most famous one, Spinalonga, boasts ancient walls and buildings that immediately catch the eye. We will come back to it later.

The hotel was completely renovated in 2020, and it does feel refreshed: the decoration is absolutely magnificent, zen, with beige, black and white touches, design lighting and abstract paintings.

The hotel site is vast, and given the variety of the land in terms of heights, we mainly commuted with a small electric car (called “club cars”). There is a beach and three pools: a small one for adults only, and a bigger one, for children, 70 metres long, crossed by 3 Japanese bridges, and the smallest and shallowest one, for babies.

The hotel offers a large choice of restaurants (buffets, à la carte, Greek, grill, or Japanese and Peruvian) and a street food outdoor area called “Core area” is open on Tuesdays and Fridays.

All the buildings are built with brown and ochre colours, which gives to the whole resort a more modern aspect than the traditional white look of the Cretan houses, but also a more down-to-earth feeling, almost as if we were in the American western deserts. As a reminiscence to the hotel’s name, all the rooms have their own dome on their top. Our villa really was incredible, of a contemporary yet hearty atmosphere, with white tones and darker wooden notes.

We even had a small kitchen with all the needed equipment. The parents’ sleeping area gave off a view on the terrace and the private pool, next to which you can almost call the sunbeds for you to lay on them, under the sun. A quick interesting detail: booking a villa gives access to a private lounge, the Haute Living, located beside the biggest pool and where drinks are offered throughout the day and night (water, sodas, beers, wine, but also cocktails by the end of the day) and snacks.

The kids-club is found in a beautiful curvy building. There are two rooms (one for the babysitting and one for children aged between 4 and 12), but also a large outdoor space with games. It is modern and well designed, the children were loving it, “one of the best kids-clubs they have ever been to”. It’s not by me, our own daughter told us! Behind the kids-club, there is an area for teenagers, in a more industrial style in terms of decoration, with screens and gaming consoles, a billiard, table tennis and a giant 8-pool which balls must be kicked. In other words, enough to entertain even the moodiest teens!

Finally, I had mentioned Spinalonga Island, which intrigued us at our arrival. It is the exact location where the plot of the book “The Island” takes place (6 million books sold). It can be visited during the day on an excursion, and the book can be bought in any bookstore or at the hotel pool’s boutique that counts around 200 copies in every language.

To conclude, I truly recommend the Domes of Elounda, that besides being a splendid hotel providing with irreproachable service, it must be the hotel in Crete where the most attention was given to children, and to their parents too.

Thank you, Little Guest, and see you around!